The men's

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

event at the

1952 Olympics 1952 Olympics refers to both: *The 1952 Winter Olympics, which were held in Oslo, Norway *The 1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the X ...

took place between July 24 and July 26. Fifty-two athletes from 26 nations competed. The maximum number of athletes per nation had been set at 3 since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The event was won by

Josy Barthel Joseph ("Josy") Barthel (24 April 1927 – 7 July 1992) was a Luxembourgish athlete. He was the surprise winner of the Men's 1500 metres at the 1952 Summer Olympics, and the only athlete representing Luxembourg to have won a gold medal at t ...

of Luxemburg; to date, this is the only Olympic gold medal won by a

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

er, though Luxembourg-born

Michel Théato Michel Johann Théato (22 March 1878 – 2 April 1923) was a Luxembourgish long-distance runner, and the winner of the marathon at the 1900 Olympics in Paris for France. He was born in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg and died in Paris, France. Earl ...

is credited for winning the 1900 Marathon for France. Germany won its first medal in the 1500 metres with

Werner Lueg Werner Lueg (16 September 1931 – 13 July 2014) was a West German middle distance runner who equalised Lennart Strand's and Gunder Hägg's 1500 m world record in 3:43.0 min in Berlin in 1952. Along with Otto Peltzer he is the only German ...

's bronze.

Summary

The early leaders of the final were

Audun Boysen Audun Boysen (10 May 1929 – 2 March 2000) was a Norwegian middle distance runner. Born in Bjarkøy and raised in Rissa, he first represented Rissa IL and later IK Tjalve in Oslo. Boysen was a prominent 800 metre runner in the 1950s, an ...

followed by

Warren Druetzler Warren Oliver Druetzler (June 8, 1929 – September 21, 2017) was an American athlete, who competed mainly in the 1500 m. Druetzler was a finalist in the 1500 m at the 1952 Summer Olympics. College career Growing up in Illinois, he ran for ...

. Towards the end of the first lap,

began to move up to take the lead, with Rolf Lamers on his shoulder to place a wall to control the pack.

Patrick El Mabrouk Patrick El Mabrouk (30 October 1928 – 3 February 1994) was a French Middle distance running, middle distance runner who competed in the 1952 Summer Olympics. References

1928 births 1994 deaths Olympic athletes for France Athletes ( ...

was next in line but unable to get by. On the third lap Lamers was unable to maintain the pace as

and

Roger Bannister Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister (23 March 1929 – 3 March 2018) was an English neurologist and middle-distance athlete who ran the first sub-4-minute mile. At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Bannister set a British record in the 1500 metres and ...

exchanging elbows with El Mabrouk lined up behind Leug. With 300 metres to go, Leug accelerated, opening up a 5-metre gap down the backstretch but through the final turn, Leug was unable to hold the pace allowing Barthel to catch back up. Bob McMillen moved up from eighth place to catch the group of leaders at the head of the final straight. Barthel went around Leug and sprinted to victory. McMillen ran the long way around El Mabrouk and Bannister and was chasing Barthel down the straight. Leug maintained his gap on Bannister and El Mabrouk, but looked helplessly as McMillen sprinted past, but he didn't have enough race left to catch Barthel, finishing half a metre behind but also being credited with the same time, a new Olympic record.

Background

This was the 12th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Six of the finalists from the 1948 Games returned: bronze medalist

Willem Slijkhuis Willem Frederik "Wim" Slijkhuis (13 January 1923 – 28 June 2003) was a Dutch athlete. During his career that lasted from 1939 to 1954 he was a world's top middle distance runner, excelling in distances from 1500 to 5000 metres. Slijkhuis began ...

of the Netherlands, fourth-place finisher

Václav Čevona Václav Čevona (24 May 1922 – 9 January 2008) was a Slovak middle-distance runner. He competed in the 1500 metres at the 1948 Summer Olympics and the 1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Ol ...

of Czechoslovakia, fifth-place finisher

Bill Nankeville George William Nankeville (24 March 1925 – 8 January 2021) was a British middle distance athlete who won the AAA mile title four times in five years between 1948 and 1952 and ran a best recorded time of 4:08.8 in 1949. He was born in Guild ...

of Great Britain, and later places (the 1948 final's places after sixth are disputed)

Sándor Garay Sándor Garay (4 February 1920 – 7 February 2006) was a Hungarian middle-distance runner. He competed in the 1500 metres at the 1948 Summer Olympics and the 1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; ...

of Hungary,

of Luxembourg, and

Denis Johansson Denis Johansson (8 April 1928 – 17 January 1991) was a Finnish middle-distance runner. He competed in the 1500 metres at the 1948 Summer Olympics and the 1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, ...

of Finland.

of Germany had tied the world record a month before the Games. "There was no favorite for the 1952 1,500 etres but the field had outstanding depth." The Soviet Union, Thailand, and Venezuela each made their first appearance in the event. The United States made its 12th appearance, the only nation to have competed in the men's 1500 metres at each Games to that point.

Competition format

For the first time, the competition expanded to three rounds. There were six heats of between 7 and 10 runners each, with the top four runners in each advancing to the semifinals. This allowed the number of semifinals to be reduced to two and the number of runners in each to be standardized at 12. The top six runners in each semifinal advanced to the final, resulting in the typical 12-man final race.Official Report, pp. 281–82.

Records

These were the standing world and Olympic records prior to the 1952 Summer Olympics. During the final,

set a new Olympic record at 3:45.2. The top eight men in the final all surpassed the old (pre-World War II) Olympic record.

Schedule

All times are

Eastern European Summer Time Eastern European Summer Time (EEST) is one of the names of the UTC+03:00 time zone, which is 3 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used as a summer daylight saving time in some European and Middle Eastern countries, which makes it ...

(

UTC+3 UTC+03:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of +03:00. In areas using this time offset, the time is three hours later than the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Following the ISO 8601 standard, a time with this offset would be wri ...

)

Results

Round 1

The first round was held on July 24. The fastest four runners in each heat advanced to the final round.

Heat 1

Heat 2

Heat 3

Heat 4

Heat 5

Heat 6

Semifinals

The fastest six runners in each heat advanced to the final round.

Semifinal 1

Semifinal 2

Final

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics At The 1952 Summer Olympics - Men's 1500 Metres Athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics 1500 metres at the Olympics Men's events at the 1952 Summer Olympics